Tires and tubes

-If your bike has been sat for a while it is more than likely that the tires have just deflated - pump them up and they’ll be good to go. If you pump them up and they still go down, you may have a loose valve which is allowing air to escape or you need to replace the inner tubes as they are punctured. (More than likely the latter)

-If you were riding along and suddenly your tyre went flat, it is punctured - you need to repair the punctured inner tube or replace it depending on how big the hole is.

-If you continually get punctures you are either very unlucky or there is something buried in your tyre which keeps puncturing the inner tube - either carry a lucky charm or inspect tyre and remove whatever is buried in there - replace the tyre if you can see the inner tube poking through when inflated.

-Bike has been sat for a while and now the tires have cracks in them. Rubber dries out over time and starts to crack, especially when it is inactive. Chances are the tires will still inflate and hold air but they will be very brittle are prone to puncturing. - Best thing would be to replace the tires as soon as you can to avoid being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

-Inner tube sizes will be written on the side of the tyre, there will be two units you need, the diameter of the tyre and the width, for example: 700(diameter of wheel/tyre)x25(width of tyre), 16x1.75, 27.5x2.50 etc… There are also a few different types of valves, the most common two in the UK are Schrader valve (same as a car) and Presta valve (skinny pin.) One is not better than the other, they are just two different valves, ensure you check which one you have when buying a new inner tube. Some rims are valve specific (you can fit a Presta valve in a Schrader rim as they are skinnier but not the other way around)

Wheels

-Spokes are making a creaking sound. It is not uncommon for spokes to sometimes make sounds - if it is all the time, the spoke tensions are probably not correct.

-Buckled wheels are very common, cheap wheels tend to buckle much easier than quality built wheels as spoke tensions are rarely correct from the get go. If you have a badly buckled wheel and spokes are loose, chances are this can be repaired as it is more than likely the loose spokes that are causing the wheel to be out of line.

-If you have a buckled wheel and your spoke tensions are still fairly adequate, your rim is deformed and will probably need replacing. There are people that will bend them back into place but this shouldn’t be done as the material has been weakened.

-If you have a slight buckle in your wheel, this is very much repairable and isn’t something to be too worried about (as long as the wheel was built correctly from the start.)

-If you have a dent in your rim - The dent can be fixed depending on how bad it is. If it is very bad the rim needs to be replaced as the material is now weaker.

-Wheels are done up tight but the whole wheel is moving from side to side. - You have an issue with the bearings inside the hub of the wheel.

Tubeless

Tubeless is fairly common now in the bike world, it can be great but it can also be a nightmare.

-If your new tubeless keeps deflating, this is relatively normal as long as everything else has been installed correctly. - Once a new tubeless set up has been installed ensure to let the tyre sit at a low pressure at multiple different angles to allow the sealant to seal any holes. Too higher pressure and the sealant cannot settle.

-Tubeless suddenly gone down - Inspect tyre as something may have punctured it - plug hole if not too big with tubeless repair kit or put inner tube in. If there is no hole, double check tubeless set up - valve may have come loose, not enough sealant, tape has come loose etc…

-If a pre-existing hole keeps opening up and sealant is spraying out everywhere - hole is a little bit too big for the sealant to manage. Try adding something to the sealant mixture to help fill the hole, un-ground peppercorns work great.

Brakes

There could be a lot of things wrong with your brakes, too many to list here but I have highlighted some common issues I get asked.

-My brakes make a very loud noise when stopping. - If this is a metallic sound, you may have completely worn out your brake pads and you now have metal rubbing on metal.

-If it is a disc brake and is making a very loud honking sound your brake pads and disc are contaminated with some sort of foreign liquid. (Commonly over spray of some sort of lubricant when oiling the chain) - The brake pads need to be replaced and the disc needs to be thoroughly cleaned.

-If your brakes are working well but are still making a loud noise this could be a temperature issue (brakes generating too much heat) or also a simple friction issue, the latter being normally on cheap rim brake bikes (think of a hand being rubbed down a glass window.) Although the sounds are embarrassing the key thing here is that your brakes work - To silence the noise you can try different brake pad compounds, different discs, different brakes all together to help dissipate the heat if this is your issue.

If you have rim brakes which are noisy, you can try putting the brake pads at a bit of an angle sometimes that can quieten them down.

Gears

-There are a lot of variables with gears so unfortunately it is too long to list all the potential issues here, I would recommend the Park Tool YouTube channel if you wanted to have a go yourself or seek a professional mechanic.

Noises on bikes

-It is very common for bikes to make noises, there are a lot of moving parts. It can be very difficult to pinpoint a noise on a bike, a lot of the time it will sound like it is coming from the bottom bracket area, although this can be a problematic area in general it is not always the problem. - If your bike is not in a perfect working order it will be very difficult to find the noise as there are multiple potential culprits. Systematically you need to address each issue (using common sense) so you can rule out each problem as you go along. - Sometimes things that shouldn’t make a noise do, it is inevitable with so many moving parts on the bike.